1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to golf clubs and more specifically to a unique and novel golf putter head assembly having a configuration that locates its center of gravity forward of its strike face.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gold is a sport which requires great timing, accuracy and a mechanical repetition uncommon to most other sports. A slight uncontrolled variation in the mechanics of a gold swing may result in adverse affects on the desired direction of the golf ball. This is also true in the putting aspect of golf. Although the putting stroke is not as mechanically involved at that required for an approach shot to the green, great accuracy, timing and mechanical repetition is also required for an effective putt.
Precise putting was originally, and rightly so, only associated with the skill of the player. That is, the golfer estimates a predetermined direction along with a predetermined impetus required to put the ball into the hold. Using his skill, mechanics and experience, he tries to emulate his estimation. If the ball is struck with sufficient force and in the proper direction, the ball will most likely fall into the hold. In practice, the striking face of the clubhead should be accurately normal to the initial direction of the putting stroke upon impact with the ball. Under these ideal conditions and if the impact occurs at the center of percussion (i.e. the point at which the clubhead will not rotate on impact, commonly called the "sweet spot"), then the ball will roll in the desired direction. However, such idealistic conditions rarely occur due to golfer, putter and environmental irregularities. Any inadvertent misalignment of the clubhead with respect to the ideal mechanics will produce adverse affects on the desired direction of the ball.
Heretofore, the skill of the player had been the primary factor associated with effective putting, as indicated above; therefore, the static and dynamic characteristics of the clubhead itself were rarely major design considerations. The skill of the golfer, without a doubt, is still the most significant factor for effective putting; however, professionals and amateurs alike agree that in their hands some putters perform better than others.
With the recent increased interest in golf, putter designers have conducted extensive research and development to improve the performance, capabilities and accuracy of the golf club. Most of these designs attempt to balance and distribute the weight of the clubhead so as to minimize twisting of the clubhead or to reduce the torque created due to improper alignment of the clubface when the impact with the ball does not occur at the center of percussion or when the clubhead is slightly misaligned with respect to the plane normal to the initial direction of the putting stroke. Different design approaches have included various weight distributions of the clubhead which have intentionally coincided the center of gravity with the center of percussion of the clubhead. Traditionally, the "sweet spot" has been located at or behind the center of the strike face of the clubhead. Impact with the ball at this point will not deflect or rotate the clubhead. Others designs have distributed the mass so that the center of gravity is located toward the heel or the toe portions of the clubhead for various reasons. Basically, the designers claim that these different weight distributions produce true pendulum movement of the golf stroke. Furthermore, they claim that these weight distributions decrease torque about the center of gravity created during impact with the ball when the clubhead is misaligned or when impact with the ball does not occur at the "sweet spot".
Still, other design concepts have taken into consideration the mechanics of motion such as attempting to reduce the angular acceleration upon impact with the ball (i.e., to minimize the twisting of the clubhead). It is apparent that in order to accomplish the desired result, the putter design should be configured to minimize torque by maximizing the moment of inertia about the club center of gravity. It is commonly known to those skilled in the art that maximizing the moment of inertia about the club center of gravity minimizes the effects of any inadvertent misalignment of the club head during the stroke. Furthermore, a high moment of inertia also reduces the harmful effects of not striking the ball at the "sweet spot" or center of the strike face. Some of these designs have concentrated mass distributions at the heel, toe and shaft portions of the club to produce a larger moment of inertia while simultaneously locating the center of gravity directly at or behind the strike face of the club. Typical examples of these prior art approaches set forth above may be seen in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ D211,103 COOK D211,446 COOK D230,750 EHRICH D235,567 COOK D258,377 NORDNESS ET AL. D272,257 PERKINS D287,391 SHEARER 3,077,350 KOORLAND 3,448,981 ANWEILER 4,199,144 SKELLY 4,325,553 TAYLOR 4,508,342 DRAKE 4,629,193 PIERMAN 4,265,451 BERNHARDT ______________________________________
Under ideal mechanical and dynamic conditions, the golfer accelerates the putter clubhead coming out of his back stroke advancing it toward the ball wherein impact with the ball will be at the center of percussion and the strike face of the clubhead will be completely normal to the initial direction of the putting stroke. If the golfer does all of this, the ball will travel in the desired direction. In this situation, the skill of the golfer is the predominant factor for effective putting, whereas the design characteristics of the putter are essentially irrelevant. Unfortunately, ideal dynamic conditions do not always occur with most, if not all, golfers. Common golfer irregularities include misalignment of the strike face, failing to strike the ball at the "sweet spot" of the clubhead, twisting of the clubhead upon impact or a combination thereof. If any of these inadvertent conditions or combinations prevail, the clubhead may effectuate angular acceleration on the ball about an axis vertical to the ball. Thus, after impact, the motion of the ball will be influenced by an undesirable component of angular velocity about an axis vertical to the ball. This resulting spin is analogous to the infamous "slice" or "hook" in a conventional approach shot. This spin about a vertical axis imparted to the ball at impact makes it in effect a moving gyroscope. This friction force of the grass surface will then cause a precession about a horizontal axis, thus making the ball change direction, the change in direction being dependent upon the direction the spin imparted. Therefore, it is desired to impact the ball with the clubhead face completely normal to the initial direction of the putting stroke.
Due to these considerations, it is apparent that the best alternative is to design a clubhead which will tend to correct any misalignment during the forward putting stroke. The prior art set forth above has tried to minimize the effects of a misaligned club head during impact or minimize the effects of hitting the ball at the heel or toe portion of the club face. However, none of these approaches attempt to correct such inadvertent misalignment during the forward motion of the swing or upon impact with the ball such as the present invention does. As will be described in much greater detail below, this is accomplished in large part by locating the club head behind its elongated shaft using an offset neck and locating the center of gravity of the club head forward of the strike face, but rearward of the juncture between the bottom end of the elongated shaft and the top of the offset neck of the clubhead assembly. Any inadvertent misalignment of the strike face normal to the initial direction of the clubhead will tend to be corrected by a restoring moment about the center of gravity of the assembly. Similarly, if the misalignment, although reduced, is not totally corrected, then upon impact with the ball, a second correcting moment is provided which further reduces any misalignment (i.e. positive rotational stability). While other designs attempt to minimize the effects of misalignment, the present invention not only minimizes the effects but also reduces such misalignment.